Marmosets invade the market in latest update for Angry Birds Rio

Rovio has just released a new update for Angry Birds Rio, which adds 36 additional levels to the iOS and Android game.

This time out, the Rio's marketplace has been invaded by a group of cheeky marmosets, who are running amok and causing all manner of mischief.

As always, it's up to the everyone's favourite feathery flock to put these pesky primates in their place. This means you're going to be twanging birds through fruit crates and off stalls to whack some sense into these grinning creatures.



As you progress through Angry Birds Rio's Market Mayhem episode, you'll want to collect all the hidden fruit you can find. Gather enough, and you will unlock a bonus level.

Once you've worked your way through the campaign, you'll have to square off against the Marmoset King, in a battle that's sure to send fur - and feathers - flying.

You can download the Market Mayhem episode for Angry Birds Rio on iOS and Android now.

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Review: Metal Slug X for iOS

Many people who have been in a firefight - whether soldiers, police officers, or whoever - will relive the experience at unexpected times.

No virtual firefight is as intense as SNK's Metal Slugseries, and we're experiencing an unexpected flashback right here with Metal Slug X.

It's essentially a slightly tweaked version of Metal Slug 2, which only hit iOS itself a couple of weeks ago.

Two's a crowd

You'll be distinctly unsurprised to hear that we think exactly the same ofMetal Slug X as we did Metal Slug 2. But a virtual soldier always does his duty, so let's go through a few formalities.

As before, this is a side-scrolling platform-shooter firmly entrenched in a previous age of madcap blasting and rock-hard difficulty. You play as a single soldier pitched against a whole army, with only a pop gun, a bunch of grenades, and some ludicrously potent power-ups to defend yourself with.

Movement is handled with the same virtual joypad and three-button setup as before, and it continues to be a barely competent intermediary between your twitch reactions and your character's actions.

You'll still mis-press a button at the most inopportune time, failing to duck an incoming bullet or lob a grenade at a boss when the opportunity presents itself.

Same old thrills

Yep, Metal Slug X can be as annoying as Metal Slug 2. But it's also just as thrilling.

SNK's original level design remains a thing of exquisite beauty. It throws memorable set-piece after memorable set-piece at you, alongside quirky bonus pick-ups and power-ups.

Get hit by a mummy's breath in the early stages and you'll turn into a shuffling mummy. Eat too much food and part of the way through the game you'll find yourself turning into a fat version of yourself - chunkier and deadlier than before.

Then there are the temporary-use vehicles that make you feel ridiculously overpowered for the briefest of moments - our favourite being the Harrier Jump Jet-a-like.

Definitive version

Differences? To be honest, there's nothing meaningful. Apparently some of the enemies and bosses have been tweaked and swapped around to keep experienced players on their toes. There are a couple of new weapons, too, with a bouncing bomb gun being the most interesting.

It's claimed that slowdown has been improved, and I have to say that I didn't encounter any major performance issues on my iPad 3.

But, ultimately, this is the same game as Metal Slug 2. The same great shooter that doesn't quite fit on the iOS platform.

There's still plenty of fun to be had with Metal Slug X, but if you boughtMetal Slug 2 on our recommendation earlier in the month don't bother repeating yourself.

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Super Stickman Golf 2 set to bounce onto the iOS and Android fairways this Thursday

Super Stickman Golf 2 is set to swing onto the iOS and Android this Thursday, March 14th.

The sequel to Noodlecake's Super Stickman Golf has been some two years in the making. Thankfully, it seems the dev has poured that time into distilling the best elements from the first game, and then mixing them with a bunkerful of new features.

For starters, Super Stickman Golf 2 players will be able to tee off on 16 new courses, as well as four rejigged courses from the original game.

Each of theses holes will have three awards for you to claim, and a selection of randomly assigned bonus goals to achieve.



If you fancy yourself a competitive golfer, then Super Stickman Golf 2's brand new asynchronous mutliplayer mode will likely be right up your fairway.

Race Mode also makes a return, allowing you to pit your putter against 3 other online players (or 8 players locally).

There's also an array new characters to unlock, plus a selection of stat-boosting hats to purchase.

You can download Super Stickman Golf 2 from the App Store for 69p / 99c, and Google Play for free (with adverts), on Thursday.

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Review: Sushi Mushi for iOS

The best thing about games like Draw Something and Words With Friends is the way you can start a session with a friend or stranger, make a move, quit, and then come back to that same game the next day and pick up where your opponent left off.

Sushi Mushi incorporates this functionality into its core icon-matching gameplay, tweaks a few of the elements to distinguish it from similar releases, and adds an almost Busu-Kawaii art-style to the proceedings.

Busuwhatnow?
Busu-Kawaii is - in case you don't know - a niche Japanese aesthetic style that blends the ugly with the cute. You learn something new every day.

The monsters in Sushi Mushihave wonky teeth, but large eyes, they have sharp claws, but they're wearing mini-skirts. It's extremely colourful and full of flash in the menus, but the gameworld itself is a little less impressive.

It's a little too jam-packed with sushi - the pieces you need to match up - which makes it not only fiddly to play but a little overwhelming to the senses too. Every so often you'll find Bento Buddies and other special items in takeaway boxes as the icons descend from the top of the screen, but they're nowhere near as charming as the monsters themselves.

Playing the game is very straightforward: you arrange matching icons in lines of three of more to score points, and if you have more points at the end of three rounds than your opponent you win.

IAPs explained 1,000 Coins is 69p and you can make purchases of up to 50,000 Coins, which is a totally reasonable £13.99. The best Sushi Special is an extra 20 seconds on the clock, which sets you back 60 Coins, and if you're really pushing your opponent hard, you might use 100 Coins in a round on power-ups.

You can play by yourself, but it's much more enjoyable to play online against real opponents. This also gives you an opportunity to show off your customisable monster to your pals.

Fish food
There's a novel spin on the otherwise formulaic puzzle action, in that each piece of sushi has both a colour and a shape in its centre. If you select a red square as the start of your line, your chain of sushi can include any shape that's red, as well as squares of any colour.

It's a fine idea in theory, but in practice I just found myself sticking to matching colours, as the limited time you have for each game encourages speed over accuracy.

You can increase the time you're allotted and add other bonuses to your game with the use of Sushi Specials. These cost soft currency, but if you're tackling a particularly tough opponent you'll want to take advantage of them.

If there are major complaints to be made about Sushi Mushi, they're technical ones. Facebook integration is, at the time of writing, "unavailable", and your enjoyment of Sushi Mushi is likely going to be based on getting mates together for the multiplayer rather than taking on randoms.

In addition, it takes a smidge too long to load up. However, once you're in the game everything snaps along, with useful shortcuts to get into your active games quickly.

Sushi Mushi's multiplayer is a great deal of fun, as is the visual style, and if the nuts and bolts workings of the software were improved it would be an essential download. As it stands, it's a good game that squanders some of its potential.

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The price of iOS RPG Blazing Souls Accelate port will set your eyeballs alight

PlayStation 2 RPG Blazing Souls Accelate has just appeared on the App Store, and is waiting to set your wallet of fire.

Though Blazing Souls Accelate was released way back in 2006, the tactical title has since found its way onto Xbox 360, PSP, and Android platforms.

Like its predecessor Spectral Souls, Blazing Souls Accelate is a tactical RPG which shares a lot in common with the likes of Disgaea and Final Fantasy Tactics.

As such, players can look forward to expansive isometric environments, non-linear progression, and a ton of stat, item, and skill management systems.



Though we didn't really rate Blazing Souls Accelate's decade-old brand of strategic role-play, that hasn't stopped HyperDevbox Japan slapping aSquare Enix-sized £9.99 / $13.99 price tag on the iOS version.

This makes it the most expensive smartphone version of the game to date, with the Android port costing a mere £8.15 / $12.85.

Still, if you love the Spectral Souls series (and have deep pockets), you can buy Blazing Souls Accelate for iPhone and iPad now.

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Add The Hog Rider, The Valkyrie, and The Minion to your Clash of Clans army

Supercell is preparing to unleash a substantial update for its hit free-to-play strategy title, Clash of Clans.

This update will add three new Dark Elixir units to your village.

The first, called The Minion, is a blue winged creature who can materialise out of thin air for the ultimate pop-up attack.

Next up, we have The Valkyrie. She sports an impressive-looking two-handed axe, which she can use to perform a reportedly devastating 'whirlwind strike'.



The final new Clash of Clans Dark Elixir unit is The Hog Rider. This bacon-backed heavy can clear enemy walls with a single bound, making it the ideal unit for breaching your foe's defences.

As you've already guessed, you're going to need to hand over some of that precious Dark Elixir if you want to add these units to your ranks. We suggest you get mining forthwith.

Smart bombs

As well as adding new units, Supercell's upcoming Clash of Clans update will boost the AI of the Wall Breakers to make them more effective in battle.

Instead of attacking the first wall they encounter, the Wall Breakers will target fortifications, pushing deeper into the enemy base once defences have been destroyed.

Supercell has yet to confirm a date for the Clash of Clans update, instead offering its fans a tentative "coming soon" promise.

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Froggy-themed iPhone run-and-gun Gero Blaster is Cave Story creator's latest

Cave Story creator Daisuke "Pixel" Amaya has finally unveiled his next project: an iPhone adventure calledGero Blaster.

It's a retro-flavoured run-and-gun about a heavily armed frog named Kaeru, and his quest to save his feline girlfriend.

You can expect side-scrolling action, multiple weapons, a little exploration, and big boss fights. All in all, it seems to follow on the legacy of Pixel's cult-hit Metroid-style shooter Cave Story.



According to the description on the games's debut YouTube trailer, Gero Blaster is coming in May, and will launch on iPhone. Other platforms are currently under investigation - but not named.

A little Twitter detective work might help to elucidate matters, though. Tyrone Rodriguez, producer at Pixel's publisher Nicalis, tweeted a photograph of the game running on a 3DS. The publisher also asked if people would want to see the game on PS Vita.

We'll answer that with a resounding "yes", followed with a "please".

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Review: Fury of the Gods for iOS

Let's be honest - having the power to smite your enemies with bolts of lightning or squish them under your giant finger is something we've all wanted to do from time to time. It's not that we're crazy. It's just that revenge fantasies are fun.

Unfortunately, though, Fury of the Gods tells a different tale. Slaughtering innocents with forces of nature and your fat digits isn't fun. It's a bit repetitive, and you end up with tired fingers and a wandering mind.

Why hast thou forsaken me?

The game is sort of like a tower defence title, but your fingers are the towers. You play one of three Greek gods, and your job is to defend your temple from an influx of disgruntled mortals who think that you've forsaken them. Upset by this accusation, you decide the best course of action is to murder them all.

IAPs explained You use the gold coins you earn in game to buy the upgrades and powers that make you a more viable slaughter machine, but if you don't have enough you can buy some more. The cheapest pack costs 69p for 2000, with the most expensive costing £13.99 for 150,000. You'll usually have enough money to buy what you need when it unlocks, though. You can also purchase the "Ultimate Power", which clears your temple of attackers. You get three for 69p or 12 for £1.99.

To begin with you're tapping on the human soldiers tramping over your patch of Mount Olympus. They have set paths to follow, but it only takes a few blows from your mighty digit before they're squished out of existence.

You can pinch-zoom and swoop around your little island shrine, and you'll need to, because those pesky humans wander in from all sides.

As the levels progress the invaders get tougher, acquiring shiny god-proof armour from somewhere, and inventing archery. You'll need to use combinations of taps and special powers to take these interlopers down.

So you'll throw lightning bolts, drop meteors, or call forth tornadoes in order to stop the advances. You can even call upon mythical guardians to protect your temple, with the Cyclops and the Kraken only too happy to answer your call.

God botherers
It all sounds reasonably exciting, but in reality Fury of the Gods is an overwhelmingly dull game. You tap on the little men until they're dead, or smash them to chunks with a storm, and then you do the same thing again. And again.

You can upgrade your tools and buy new powers, but in the end you're just tapping away at a stream of podgy, justifiably angry men.

It looks nice enough and everything works, but, somehow, Fury of the Godsmanages to make being a vengeful deity feel like the blandest occupation in the universe.

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Review: Journey to Hell for iOS

If video games are to be believed, demon hunter is a vocation with more open positions than your local branch of McDonalds.

You can't move for leather-clad guys and gals with a gleam in their eyes and a lust for undead blood. And here come two more grizzled, gun-toting slayers in Bulkypix'sJourney to Hell.

This is a formulaic third-person shooter featuring ten short mid-western-themed stages for your demonic carnage. Each offers a series of cramped arenas where you're hemmed in until you've dealt with a vast swathe of zombies, all eager for a taste of your bullets. Shoot, shuffle, move on, repeat.

Enemies range from mindless, lumbering drones to larger lumbering drones, with the occasional acid-spitting creature or high-speed crawler - even the odd behemoth boss - thrown in for good measure.

Rarely do they pose much of a threat, despite their rather irritating tendency to spawn a foot or so behind you while you're looking elsewhere.

Spawn of Satan
Indeed, the action isn't much fun at all. Combat packs a feeble punch and enemy AI doesn't get a whole lot more sophisticated than 'walk at player, flail'.

It's repetitive to an unholy degree, too, with cookie cutter level design and minimal variation between opponents to up the excitement and challenge. What little distractions there are between bouts of slaughter rarely amount to more than pushing a button.

Thankfully, though, Journey to Hell does more or less get its controls right. There are a few niggles regarding questionable button-placement, but mostly you're able to shuffle forwards, backwards, and strafe while dragging around your aiming reticule with relative ease.

Better the devil you know
Journey to Hell also has a decently stocked armoury for your bouts of undead slaughter, with the likes of pistols and shotguns available for purchase using demon teeth dropped by your fallen foes. Each can be upgraded and assigned to one of three weapon slots between levels, and you have access to a handful of additional abilities, such as a useful dodge, tossed in to mix up the action.

Journey to Hell's strongest asset is undoubtedly its visuals, and it makes the most of its mid-western, grindhouse-inspired ambience with some pleasingly gritty environments.

You also get a fair amount of content for your cash, with Survival and Treasure Hunt modes thrown in to beef things up. Sadly, neither makes the game's dull action any more interesting, but it's nice that they're there.

Ultimately, Journey to Hell is a bland, unexciting, and occasionally irritating third-person shooter that gets the basics right with reasonable gun mechanics, even if it doesn't know quite what to do with them.

There's a slim chance that you might find some enjoyment in the game if you're in the market for short, sharp slivers of tolerable shooting action, but there are better iOS blasters out there.

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Review: Penumbear for iOS

The penumbra is the area where light and dark meet. Penumbear is a stuffed teddy bear with a rather fetching scarf.

The wordplay of the title refers to the fact that the cute and cuddly hero of this deceptively fiendish iOS platformer is capable of walking on shafts of light, and controlling these illuminations is central to the gameplay.

On the surface, Penumbear is a fairly basic platformer. You have virtual buttons to control left and right movement, and a 'jump' button to execute leaps. Double-jumps are possible, and a swift double-tap in either direction will trigger a sprint.

Combine this with a double-jump and you can cover larger distances - all fairly standard stuff if you consider yourself to be a platform game expert.

Leap of faith

Penumbear becomes a little more interesting when you factor in the various lights which appear around each of the game's 100 levels. By tapping coloured buttons you can toggle these on and off. Sometimes you'll need to switch lights on to create platforms - your avatar has the ability to walk on the shadows that appear, reaching previously inaccessible parts of the level.

Other times, you'll need to deactivate the lights to pass through, or use them to inflict damage on nearby enemies. Some lights blink on and off, forcing you to flex your platforming muscles and get your jumps timed perfectly.

While the objective of Penumbear is to reach the exit on each level, you'll find it's rarely as simple as that. Some doors require you to collect magical fireflies, and these are usually placed far apart in each stage. You can also collect Bonus Bears, which can be used to skip particularly tricky levels.

Shine a light

Penumbear's platforming action is solid, and the game controls very well indeed. Making pixel-perfect jumps demands skill, but it's forgiving in places; for example, if you bear lands just on the edge of a platform, he "sticks" to it briefly, giving you the chance to avoid falling to your doom.

Later levels are taxing almost to the point of becoming frustrating, but the appealing atmosphere - accentuated by some excellent music and moody graphics - maintains your interest regardless.

Penumbear isn't for casual players, despite its adorable protagonist. The gameplay is downright sadistic at times, but seasoned professionals who remember the platform classics of yesteryear will appreciate the stern challenge and pure mechanics.

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Review: Puzzle & Dragons for iOS

Let's get something out of the way from the outset: Puzzle & Dragons borrows a lot from both Bejeweled and Pokemon.

Once you accept this humble truth, you can begin to appreciate Puzzle & Dragons for what it is - and appreciate it you will, as it's quite the addictive little puzzle-based dungeon-crawler.

Emerald, ruby, and sapphire

Gameplay in Puzzle & Dragons is split between a turn-based RPG on the top of your screen and a match-three style game on the bottom.

When indulging in the RPG mode, you'll work your way through some basic dungeons that consist of a handful of fights with other monsters.

There's no exploration to be done, nor any special skills to employ. You simply set your feet down the halls of a dungeon and walk till you fight some monsters, then walk along the same straight corridor till you fight a boss.

IAPs explained The only IAPs offered by Puzzle & Dragonsare Magic Stones, which you use to buy new monsters, recover stamina, and increase the maximum number of monsters you can collect. You can elect to purchase 1 Stone (99c / 69p) or packs of 6 Stones ($4.99 / £2.99), 12 Stones ($9.99 / £6.99), 30 Stones ($22.99 / £15.99), 60 Stones ($43.99 / £30.99), or 85 Stones ($59.99 / £39.99).

When the fights happen, you'll shift your attention to the gems that have been waiting patiently on the bottom half of your screen.

Each coloured gem corresponds to a different elemental affinity (water, fire, etc.) of monster on the top half of the screen, and when you match three or more of the same gem the creature(s) of the corresponding colour will attack.

Gems can be moved all about the grid with a simple tap and drag interface that works perfectly well, and matches can be made in either columns or rows. It's not the deepest puzzle gameplay out there, but it's accessible and satisfying.

Each grid also features pink heart blocks that you can use to heal your party by matching as you would with elemental gems.

Often, this tactic isn't advisable, as focusing on a healing match will give the enemy time to wail on your monsters, but if three hearts happen to line up easily it's nice to know you can restore some HP.

Diamond daze

Like Pixel Defenders Puzzle, Puzzle & Dragons isn't the deepest matching game out there - nor is it the most compelling dungeon-crawler by a long, long distance, yet neither of these shortcomings prevents it from being an enjoyable game.

In fact, the exact opposite is true: because Puzzle & Dragons keeps the puzzling light and the dungeon-crawling simple, you can pick up the game and bash through a couple of dungeons while waiting for your laundry to dry.

Unfortunately, due to the social nature of the game Puzzle & Dragons requires you need to have an active data connection. As such, those concerned with the cost of their data plans or duration of their iOS device's battery life might want to think twice before investing any time into it.

If you're willing to overlook this minor flaw, and the relatively simple gameplay,Puzzle & Dragons offers a compelling - and surprisingly deep - RPG experience.

What it doesn't offer is anything altogether new, but its presentation is bright and polished enough that we won't dock too many points from its score for that.

Puzzle & Dragons isn't currently available on the UK App Store. Matt lives in America.

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Review: Knitted Deer for iOS

In recent years the gaudy knitted jumper has gone from unwanted Christmas present to ironic hipster-wear to high street trend. It's funny how fashion works.

Now this woolly aesthetic has formed the inspiration for a new endless-runner, Knitted Deer.

It's an original look, but it's married to a pretty familiar game.

Deer hunter

Knitted Deer's quirky visual design bleeds into its premise. You're a bipedal gun-toting deer, and it's up to you to stay alive as long as possible through a continuously scrolling, increasingly hazardous but randomly generated landscape.

Your two key defences against a messy death from static blocks, moving enemies, and rotating buzz-saws are a good set of hind legs for jumping and a gun with unlimited bullets.

All you need concern yourself with is jumping, double-jumping, and pounding the right-hand side of the screen to shoot.

Material world

At heart, Knitted Deer is a pretty traditional iOS action game. Where developer Josh Presseisen mixes things up is in the consequence of success or failure.

Death isn't the end in Knitted Deer. Rather, you'll find yourself transported to a woolly approximation of hell - a much tougher version of the game with tricky enemies and awkward projectiles.

Do well in the main section by collecting the letters to the word 'HEAVEN', meanwhile, and you'll ascend to a fittingly lighter and more rewarding plane of existence.

At least, I assume you do. I wasn't good enough to achieve this in my time with the game. It's a tough cookie.

If you want to destroy my sweater

Much of this difficulty is down to Knitted Deer's punishing controls. It's got one of those exacting, almost binary control schemes in which there's absolutely no margin for error.

Fail to time the first in a sequence of block-hopping jumps exactly right and you're absolutely certain to come a cropper farther down the line.

Similarly, the jumping arc is pretty linear, so you often know when you're going to come up short well before you land.

If you're one of those suckers for punishment who loves to master such old skool systems you'll be in your element here - otherwise it leads to frustration.

Shopping for jumpers

It's possible to spend the accumulated coins you earn on each run in the game's shop. This lets you improve your three main weapons - your default gun alongside the shotgun and bomb temporary power-ups.

You can also spend on improving the two limited-use abilities, shield and invisibility (which is more like intangibility).

The menu for this is unclear and just plain awkward to use with the big chunky knit-text, and there's no help screen to instruct you how to use it. In fact, the game as a whole suffers from a lack of explanation - you're left to figure out the whole heaven and hell thing for yourself (which could be a profound comment on existence, but we doubt it).

All in all, Knitted Deer is a moderately accomplished runner with a quirky and fresh art-style - nothing more and nothing less.

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Review: Towelfight 2: The Monocle of Destiny for iOS

Think of the most ridiculous concept for a video game, and then double the absurdity, and you might be close to the downright madness that is Towelfight 2: The Monocle of Destiny.

The sequel to Towel Fight of the Gods - an entry into the 2012 Global Game Jam - this insane fusion of The Legend of Zelda and twin-stick shooting is so crazy it has absolutely no right to work. And yet it does.

You play the role of Hardik, an elderly Indian gentleman who, at the opening of the tale, is innocently playing fetch with his beloved dog in the park when a warp hole transports him and his pooch to a land controlled by the evil Forn.

Summoned by the friendly Jobi, you're blessed with a magical monocle which is capable of shooting projectiles at enemies - with the catch being that the live ammunition you use is just that - each projectile is an animal with different attributes.

Shooting animals

IAPs explained According to the developer, Towelfight 2 has been balanced so it plays perfectly well without IAPs, but they're on offer regardless. 5,000 coins cost 65p, while at the other end of the scale you can get 60,000 coins for £2.62. As the developer says, these purchases are essentially for people who want to "cheat".

Through the course of your adventure - which is essentially a quest to collect power crystals and free Jobi - you pick up different animal bullets, which can then be loaded into your monocle 'clip'. This allows you to edit the firing sequence and select a varied range of shots. It's also possible to augment the power of each animal to gain more destructive projectiles.

Towelfight 2's twin-stick controls take a little getting used to, but they work well enough. The biggest issue we discovered is that the right-hand stick is very close to the edge of the screen, and on Android that can be a big problem - several times during the review we accidentally tapped the 'home' button and ended up closing the game down.

Thankfully, you can tap and move both virtual D-pads away from the edges of the screen, although as soon as you release your finger they snap back to their original position.

Keep an eye on this one

As the game's storyline probably suggests, Towelfight 2 contains a large helping of humour. The dialogue is laced with laughs, and whenever one of your shots hits an enemy a totally unrelated word or term pops up, such as "Greek Debt", "Spleen", and "Overly Sensitive".

None of these comments makes any sense, but the fact that they are completely out of context is far more amusing than it should be.

Although the shooting action is fairly straightforward, there's a surprising amount of depth on offer here. There are 40 animal shots to collect and 80 augments to unlock, and getting everything isn't an easy task.

It's refreshing to see a game that gleefully abandons sanity and goes out of its way to be as deranged as possible. Towelfight 2's loose grasp on reality is a definite bonus, though - it's just as amusing as it is playable, and is well worth a look if you're a fan of the twin-stick shooter genre.

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Review: Spunk and Moxie for iOS

Gamers of today have it easy. Those old enough to recall the unforgiving platformers of the 8- and 16-bit eras will surely agree with this sentiment, and should those same crusty players want to get a taste of the good old days they could do a lot worse than downloadSpunk and Moxie.

Despite the rather suggestive title, this is actually a cute platform game in which you control a ball of ooze as it propels itself around 30 different levels set across three themed areas.

The ooze moves automatically, with you controlling its jumps. The longer you hold your finger on the screen the higher the leap, and it's possible to rebound your ooze off walls by keeping your digit glued firmly to the display.

Secret of the ooze

Your aim is to successfully traverse each level and collect as many gems as possible along the way. The challenge begins in a relatively relaxed manner, with your only concern being the timing of your leaps.

However, by the time you're ten levels into the game the difficulty takes a considerably sharp upwards thrust as elements are introduced such as one-way trap doors, crates that you can only break when you imbibe a special potion, and switches that control access doors.

Even when played on the lowest difficulty setting, Spunk and Moxie is insanely tricky. It requires pixel-perfect reaction times and the patience of a saint. On some of the harder levels it's possible to hit a trap door which sends you almost to the start of the level again, making your struggle even more frustrating.

There are also hazards that deplete your energy bar, and once that's all gone you have to start the entire level from scratch.

Sticky situation

While it's clear that the developer is keen to test your mettle, it's clear that makingSpunk and Moxie look and sound as appealing as possible was also high on the list of priorities.

The 2D visuals call to mind the Amiga classic Silly Putty, and the infectiously bouncy soundtrack will stick in your head long after you've hurled your iPhone across the room in anger after failing the same level for the fifteenth time.

There's nothing wrong with making a game that requires plenty of skill to complete, but Spunk and Moxie is just a little too sadistic to hold any mainstream appeal.

If you consider yourself to be something of a touchscreen expert and you desire a real challenge then by all means buy this game. However, those of you with a short fuse should probably try something a little less taxing.

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Review: Sonic Dash for iOS

Modern Sonic games have never been big on player agency. Sonic Adventure, often heralded as the last great escapade of the spiky speed freak, was to all intents and purposes a game about pushing 'up' on a joypad for five hours before helping a cat catch some fish.

The precision platforming of the classic 16-bit games has long since been abandoned for the illusion of speed, and Sonic Dash is the ultimate outcome of that shift. Here's a game where you don't even have to push forwards any more.

The result is an endless-runner with some of the charm of early Sonic titles and a handful of fondly remembered tunes. It won't change anyone's opinion of Sega's fading mascot, but will probably keep you entertained anyway.

Green spinning hills

Sonic Dash eschews the tilting formula of Temple Run and opts for a three lane track which you swipe yourself across. Swiping 'down' puts Sonic in one of his trademark buzzing spins, and swiping 'up' makes him leap over obstacles.

You'll pelt along runways made up of familiar Sonic-themed sights. The green rolling hills, crab-shaped enemies, heavenly blue skies, and massive number of gold rings are all here. There's no room for innovation in the landscape - you're sprinting across childhood memories like Sonic 4 never happened.

And as you sprint, spinning into enemies, grabbing handfuls of rings, and leaping over the various spikes and pits, you're building up your 'Dash Meter'. This sits at the bottom right of the screen and when it's full you can unleash a burst of speed.

Once you do that you don't even have to steer for a bit. Sonic will zoom off in a blur of podgy spikes, smashing through anything that gets in his way, until the bar is empty, the screen flashes, and you're back making sure he doesn't run into walls.

Ring it through

The rings you collect are no longer for extra lives, although they do still act as a barrier against death from enemies and spikes. Instead, they're used to purchase boosts and bonuses from an in-game store.

Bumpers at the end of each section of the game bounce you into the air, letting you either bank the rings you've already collected or perform a series of quick swipes to shift to a different part of the world.

IAPs explained There are two currencies in Sonic Dash, Gold Rings and Red Rings. Red Rings are far rarer, and can be spent on new characters and super boosts. Gold Rings, which you collect as you play, are for smaller upgrades and less powerful buffs. The smallest pack of Gold rings is 69p, and gets you 1000, with the most expensive costing £19.99 and giving you 50,000. Red Rings start at £2.49 for 30, with the most expensive bundle, which gives you 300, costing £19.99. If you want both types of rings, then £34.99 gets you 100,000 Gold and 600 Red.

Red rings, which are collected for completing challenges or beating friends, can be spent on revival pills and new characters, but they're given out rarely in the game, so if you're desperate to play as Tails or Knuckles you'll have to spend some cash.

The monetisation is a little uncomfortable, mainly because this is a game with a £1.49 price tag already. You can play without spending anything extra, but in a game that focuses on one-upping friends on the leaderboard the purchases do feel a bit pay-to-win.

Ever moving forward

This isn't Sonic at his finest, then, but it's by no means Sonic at his most dismal either. There's fun to be had creeping up the leaderboard, and the speed the game plays at means it's a more trying test than a lot of other endless-runners out there.

While Sonic Dash might represent another nail in the coffin of the inspired platforming of the Mega Drive days, for most that isn't going to matter. Nowadays, Sonic is all about speeding forwards, even if that means leaving his best years behind.

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